As stated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,147 to Daniel R. Wells, there is a need for new techniques that will permit the construction of power generating stations that are relatively small when compared to conventional thermonuclear reactor designs. It is desirable that full size power generating thermonuclear reactors be built in sizes approximately 1000 times smaller than those possible with currently proposed designs. This would enable the utilization of these power plants, for example, in spacecraft intended for deep space missions. Such compact nuclear power plants could also be utilized for marine propulsion. Also, there is a need for a system suitable for facilitating substantially direct conversion of thermonuclear energy to electrical energy without the necessity of employing complex thermal cycle machinery.
For various reasons, the currently available systems are not adequate to satisfactorily meet the above needs. Although heating plasma structures entirely be conieal theta pinch compression fields provides a basic solution, previous systems relying essentially on this technique have failed because it involves heating a plasma ring that is moving with respect to the theta pinch coils. This results in a very low coefficient of coupling and a very inefficient heating process. Furthermore, the rate of rise of the compression field must be very fast, thereby requiring the use of expensive and complex equipment.
Therefore, there currently exists a need for more efficient and inexpensive means for compressing and heating plasma in thermonuclear devices.